The Adventure Works Cycles Database

Through the remainder of the book, you'll be working with the Adventure Works Cycles sample database. This is a new sample database included with SQL Server 2005. There have actually been several different versions of this database as it evolved from the first edition in 2004 and then through the SQL Server 2005 beta test period. The version that installs with SQL Server 2005 is a little more complex than deemed appropriate for this book, so I decided to use the SQL Server 2000 version for the examples. It will work with both SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005.

You can download and install the AdventureWorks2000 sample database from the support site for this book at Wrox Press. You will find this at http://www.wrox.com/go/begintransact-SQL. To install the sample database, follow these steps:

1. Click the Download button and then click Open in the File Download dialog and follow the directions in the InstallShield Wizard.

2. Double-check that the AdventureWorks2000 database has been added to the list of available databases on your server. Right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh.

3. If the new database is not displayed on the database tree, the database file may need to be attached manually. This is easy to do using the following steps:

   1. For SQL Server 2000, in Enterprise Manager, right-click the Databases node and select All Tasks Attach Database. In the Attach Database dialog, click the small ellipsis (...) button and then browse for the file. The AdventureWorks2000_Data.MDF file should be at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data. Select the file and click OK.

   2. For SQL Server 2005, the procedure is similar. Right-click the database server node in the SQL Server Management Studio object browser and select Attach Database. Browse to the database file and then click OK.

The AdventureWorks2000 database is also an optional installation component with SQL Server Reporting Services for SQL Server 2000. An evaluation version of Reporting Services is available for download from Microsoft.